d on his work. He, too, was calm; but there was anxiety
in his haste. He passed with long strides from rock to rock, and
returned dragging wildly sometimes a rider, sometimes a binding strake.
The utility of all this preparation of timbers now became manifest. It
was evident that he was about to confront a danger which he had
foreseen.

A strong iron bar served him as a lever for moving the beams.

The work was executed so fast that it was rather a rapid growth than a
construction. He who has never seen a military pontooner at his work can
scarcely form an idea of this rapidity.

The eastern gullet was still narrower than the western. There were but
five or six feet of interval between the rocks. The smallness of this
opening was an assistance. The space to be fortified and closed up being
very little, the apparatus would be stronger, and might be more simple.
Horizontal beams, therefore, sufficed, the upright ones being useless.

The first cross pieces of the breakwater being fixed, Gilliatt mounted
upon them and listened once more.

The murmurs had become significant.

He continued his construction. He supported it with the two cat-heads of
the Durande, bound to the frame of beams by cords passed through the
three pulley-sheaves. He made the whole fast by chains.

The construction was little more than a colossal hurdle, having beams
for rods and chains in the place of wattles.

It seemed woven together, quite as much as built.

He multiplied the fastenings, and added nails where they were necessary.

Having obtained a great quantity of bar iron from the wreck, he had been
able to make a large number of these heavy nails.

While still at work, he broke some biscuit with his teeth. He was
thirsty, but he could not drink, having no more fresh water. He had
emptied the can at his meal of the evening before.

He added afterwards four or five more pieces of timber; then climbed
again upon the barrier and listened.

The noises from the horizon had ceased; all was still.

The sea was smooth and quiet; deserving all those complimentary phrases
which worthy citizens bestow upon it when satisfied with a trip. "A
mirror," "a pond," "like oil," and so forth. The deep blue of the sky
responded to the deep green tint of the ocean. The sapphire and the
emerald hues vied with each other. Each were perfect. Not a cloud on
high, not a line of foam below. In the midst of all this splendour, the
April sun rose magnificentl